


Witch!au: Meeting With The Destination

by GizaMatox



Category: Bakugan Battle Brawlers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Gus says fuck, M/M, Other, Witches, Zombie Dogs, helios is a sassy bitch, warning: dreads, why keith has so many names
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-24
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-01-22 12:38:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12481752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GizaMatox/pseuds/GizaMatox
Summary: Keith goes to a mysterious store that may have what he needs, Gus learns the truth about his new customer. A Bakugan au that spectraslilbitch and I created. Vestal is a world that mix high technology with magic. This story focus on how Keith/Spectra and Gus met and how they start working together. WARNING - can have strong content for sensitive viewers -**********Update: Chapter 5**********





	1. The Beginning

Keith looked again at the address written on the small piece of paper to make sure he was in the right place, he began to think that maybe that fortune teller was mocking him. That he would send him to a simple flower shop as a punishment for calling him a liar.

He looked again at the building. 'The Enchanted Forest' was written on the signboard, It was a small and simple store, a dollhouse in contrast with the larger buildings around it. The blonde man looked inside through the large window on the left, just like his exterior, the inside was small, but organized and seemed very cozy, with bouquets and flowers pots along the shelves on the coral walls. In the back of the store he could see a wooden counter with a purple curtain blocking a entrance, and resting his feet on it was a man, no older than him, his back laid on his chair while his shiny green eyes were focused on a book with a leather cover, his long and blue dreadlocks falling over his shoulders.

'Well, the place sure had something enchanted' he thought.

Keith decided he won't be certain about anything standing outside while peeking at the distracted pretty boy. He put the piece of paper inside his jacket's pocket and opens the door, the bell on top of it announcing his presence. The sound made the long"haired man take his attention away from the book, he stood up with a jump.

"Good morning sir! Welcome to The Enchanted Forest. How can I help you?" the boy said with a warm and inviting smile.

Keith couldn't help but return the smile with another

" Good morning." he looked around. He was right, the place sure was cozy, with flowers and other plants distributed around the room on shelves. In a corner, a wooden table with a few bouquets wrapped on shiny paper, a strong scent filled the place, almost nauseous " it's a beautiful store that you have here friend."

The man's smile grew large, with a spark of pride

" Thank you sir. It's not easy keep it like this but all the work is worth it " the man studied him, "I don't remember seeing you around here before."

" Yeah, I moved to the town a few weeks ago " he walked through the store, the scent getting a bif stronger with every minute he spent on that place, but still nothing he couldn't tolerate " and someone told me you could help me with something.

" Well, in that case, welcome to our town " he gave him a wink " so, how can I help you sir?

Keith studied the boy, he didn't seemed like the guy that could help him, but he learned to never judge a book for it's cover. He walks into his direction and leans on the counter.

" I'm looking for mushrooms " he says looking into the man's eyes.

The man blinked, confused.

"mushrooms? "

" Yes, mushrooms. Special ones."

The man giggled

" I'm sorry sir, but i don't sell mushrooms. I have flowers, succulents, cactus... but not mushrooms."

Keith wasn't ready to give up, he tries again.

" I'm sure you sell it, a person told me you could have what I need. Please, I will pay anything."

The man's leans on the counter, his face getting closer to Keith's.

" I said i don't sell mushrooms, whoever told you sir i'm afraid that was mistaken or made you by fool " his voice was firm and serious.

Keith looks at him for a few minutes, then he sighs, disappointed.

" Okay, sorry to bother you. You're right, i was mistaken."

The man smiled again.

" it's okay sir, I'm sorry I couldn't help you."

Keith gave him a weak smirk and turned to leave. He opened the door and closes it behind him. Now outside, Keith lays on the door, sighing deeply, feeling the clean air. He decided the next time he see the guy who sended him to that store he would make sure to give him a unpleasant surprise.

He puts his hands on his pockets and starts his way back home, he passes through the window and looks inside one last time, the man was once again reading, one arm on the counter and the other one holding his left cheek, his long sleeve showing a bit of skin, and what it seems a symbol tattooed on it.

Keith stops immediately. He goes back and presses his face on the window. That mark, an ordinary thing for the eyes of a normal person, but not for Keith.

A smile crosses his face, maybe his mysterious friend wasn't mocking him after all. If someone could give what he needed was definitely that guy.

Keith quickly goes back inside, making the man jump startled once again.

" Already back sir?"

Keith chuckles

" Alright, quit the acting."

The man looks at him confused.

" You almost got me " he slowly walks on his direction " the entire 'flower shop owner' thing. It's a perfect disguise actually. Very good one.

" Sir, I don't know what you're talking about."

Keith leans on the counter.

" Oh you sure do. Now, will you give me what I want?"

The man leans too, visibly impatient.

" I already said I don't sell mushrooms!"

" Of course you do " Keith comes closer " after all, you're a 'Child of Gaia', right?"

The blue haired man's eyes opens wide, shocked. Keith grins, that was all the confirmation he needed.

"The book you're reading " he gesture with his head to the book open on the counter " 'mystical botanic: the spiritual benefits of herbs', it's not a common thing I would find a florist reading about, it gave me a clue but i still wasn't very sure. Anyone can have a weird fascination right?"

The man kept focused on him silently.

"But that mark... I saw it when I was leaving, i would recognize that anywhere. "

The man was still silent

" It represents Gaia, the ancient goddess of nature and creation. Now any person, a very passionate florist maybe, could tattoo that mark. But you didn't tattooed this by the regular way right? It's burned on your skin. Why would you do such a painful thing? Maybe because it was part of a ritual?"

A crushing silence filled the room, the only sound coming from the birds chirping outside and the fan moving slowly on the roof.

Then the long haired man broke the silence

"You said someone told you about my store " he raises a eyebrow " Who did?"

"A fortune teller, he didn't tell me his name but he said that if I found you you would help me."

"What was he like?"

"Very tall, buffy, the guy looks more like an MMA fighter than a fortune teller."

Another silence fills the room. Then this time Keith breaks it.

"So... can I have my mushrooms?"

The man smiles, that inviting and warm smile again. He goes to the left and opens a small door on the counter.

" Follow me, sir."

The shopkeeper opens the purple curtain behind him and leaves the room. Keith follows him and discovers a large hallway. On the right was a entrance with a flight of stairs leading the second floor and in the end of the hallway was a big rustic oak door, with no knobs or any visible way to unlock it.

The man approached the door and puts a hand on it's center, Keith could hear he whispering a few words before the runes carved on the wood began to glow with a green"ish light, he hears a weak 'click' then the door opens. Revealing a set of stairs that leads to a dark basement. The only light illuminating the stairs coming from the weak sunlight invading the hallway through the curtained door behind them.

" This way, sir. " the man says entering the room and began to went down.

Keith followed him, it wasn't the first dark, creepy and hidden place he ever saw, but maybe he could include it on his top 5 creepier places.

As he went down Keith notices it was longer and deeper than he thought. The more he went deeper, the room went darker and the scent got stronger, so much he had to stop and lean on the wall and wait for his head to stop aching.

" You okay there? " the store owner asked, Keith couldn't see him but by his voice tone he knew he was at the end of the flight of stairs.

" Yeah " he answers loud " I can't see shit but I'm kinda used to dark places."

Keith takes a deep breath and goes back on his way. He goes down on another set of stairs when he feels someone grabbing gently his hand.

His instinct was to pull it immediately but he calms down when he hears the man's voice.

"Careful now, just one more set."

Keith felt his cheeks burning at the man's hand feeling on his, It was warm and soft. He was thankful the man couldn't see him like that.

The blond man followed the shopkeeper to a few more sets, he stops when the man gestures to him.

"Wait a minute sir. I recommend you to close your eyes."

Keith couldn't hold a chuckle. 'I don't think it will make a difference on this void' he thinks. But he does it anyway because his felt it was wise to obey him.

Seconds later he wears the man shout

"Calor!"

Followed by a light that even with his eyes closed he could see. Maybe it was really a good idea obey him.

"It's good now, you can open it."

Keith slowly opens his eyes, getting used to it after all that darkness. What he saw made he lose his breath for a few seconds.

Now that place was upped to the 3rd place on his rank.

The basement was three times bigger than the store on the upper floor, with three corridors with shelves full of plants he never saw before, colorful flowers, bottles of potions and bowls with herbs and spices. He looked around in awe and discovered the source of the light, huge vines around the walls going to the roof, with shiny spheres hung along it. So bright he calculated one sphere could illuminate a small room.

"That's...amazing…" he whispered.

The man smirked.

"Yes, it's. My secret store. And you're one of the few living beings who got the chance to see it."

"I'm honored, I really am."

The man offer his hand.

"By the way, let me introduce myself: I'm Gus Grav"

Keith shook his hand.

"I'm Spe" Keith Fermin." he felt it wasn't safe yet for his new friend to know his true identity.

"Pleased to meet you Keith, could you please follow me? Let's find what you need."

Keith followed Gus through a corridor on the middle of the large basement, the scent was still strong, he was relieved the warm temperature of the room could alleviate his nausea. While walking he had to stop to look at the exotic collection, he was feeling like a kid on a toy store. A mix of curiosity and wonder.

They reached the back of the room and there was a door. Gus took a key from his pocket and opened it. Inside was a bit dark. A few seconds later the room got illuminated, Keith noticed the same vines he saw along the basement with the shiny spheres were tangled around the wall and on a table.

The room seemed to be a lab, with shelves on the right corner with bottles with potions, empty bottles, a few bowls and tools. On the left corner was a large table with some tools and chemical materials. in the center was a big cauldron made of dark iron.

'A cauldron' he thought, 'how original..'

"This is where my magic happens" Gus says while cleaning the table, "sorry about the mess but it's a kinda impossible to have this place clean."

"That's fine" keith chuckles, "my work place isn't the most organized place either. I presume I'm not your first customer."

"You're right. I apologise for my behaviour but as I said before, I never saw you around here. I have a good memory so I'm certain that I would remember selling something for you."

"There's another witches on this town?"

"Not on this town" Gus says while dusting a chair from behind the table, "but i'm the only store who sells herbs and potions for witchcraft and potion brewing on the Beta region, so i got customers from different towns around the area."

Keith whistles. "That's a lot."

"Now you understand why I can't never have this place clean. Now, where's it…" he opens the drawers located behind the large table "Aha! Found it" he take from the inside of the second drawer and wand, it was made of dark wood, probably oak, with some silver details.

"Now let's talk about business. Please, have a sit" he makes a quick gesture with the wand and quickly a stool slide from a corner and stops behind Keith. He sits and waits for Gus to get comfortable on his chair.

"Now, how can I help you?" He says crossing his fingers on the table.

Keith moves the stool closer to the table. He reach for his jean's pocket and takes from inside a paper carefully folded. He opens it and slides to the shop keeper. It was a page, ripped from a old book, with a picture of a yellow-ish mushroom and informations about the fungus written on latin.

"I'm looking for this, I heard it's a very rare specimen. I came here with hope that you could have it"

Gus takes the page and analyzes it, biting the tip of his wand. "hmm, it sure is rare. It almost impossible to find Gold Drops since it's very sensible to pollution, the only places you can find it is on remote forests completely distant from human activity. Growing them is impossible." he looks at Keith grinning "Not for me, of course. But they're not cheap though"

Keith smirks. "As I said, I will pay anything for them."

"That's what I like to hear. Wait right here" Gus get up from his chair and leaves the room.

Now alone, Keith can finally dismantle his calm countenance. He rest his head on the table, sweating and gasping. He could feel that damned scent destroying from the inside for any second he stayed on that place.

'There's something really wrong with this place' a deep voice echoed on his mind.

"No shit" keith says rolling his eyes, that simple act making his head hurt like hell "then why aren't you doing your job? Aren't you supposed to protect me from any curses?"

'What do you thing i've been doing all this time?!' a faint red light pulsed on his chest 'but I simply cannot protect you here. Something is neutralizing my powers. Something powerful. We need to get out of here'

"No! I searched for months for that mushrooms. We need them for our plan!"

'You won't get nothing done if you keep on that state Spectra!' the voice roared

"Focus on protecting me and let me take care of the rest."

The voiced stoped, but he could feel it's disapproval. Keith got up and walked around the room, impatient that the shopkeeper was taking too long. His heads was aching and his thoughts were confused. He had no clue what was happening, maybe it was a curse, but he wasn't on the town time enough to make enemies. Maybe it was the fortune teller? But he couldn't find any reason for him to curse him. Maybe it was the hideous food from the food truck near the park?

The room was spinning, he leaned on the wall next to the door. The scent filling his lungs. He gasped out for clean air, like he was drowning. He tried to walk back to his stood but on the way everything was fading black, his consciousness slowly dissipating like a cloud of smoke. The only things he could recall before falling was the shocked blue haired man on the door and Helios roaring on his mind.


	2. The Discovery

It was meant to be a calm day. The store would be open just till midday due to the slow businesses on that month. It was the Bloody Moon month, people usually don't buy flowers on that period. Not even his 'special customers' come to buy his 'exotic products'. Everyone was too busy buying scary costumes, ornaments to decorate their homes and alcohol for the ones who were too old to go after candy.

The plan was: closing the store at 12:30pm, go home, watch tv, maybe get high with his freshly purchased Wonderland Drops leaves, eat something he would only be able to do it while high, regret doing it and promise to never smoke this stuff again(a promise he breaks at least once every two months), take a shower and go to sleep.

It was a good plan, but when you run that kind of business you learn to expect anything. But for sure Gus wasn't expecting he had to drag an unconscious body through the stairs to his flat on the second floor.

Gus kicked the door that was slightly opened, since his hands were too busy holding the corpse on his back. His customer was taller than him so, even if he was skinny he still was as heavy as a potato sack. He tries to keep balance with the height on his shoulders as he passes through the door.

He goes to the living room and drops the body on his couch. He wipes the sweat from his forehead panting. After Gus catched his breath he could go back to what he was doing minutes after Keith passed out. Being in panic.

"Vulcan! Vulcan!" he shouts while looking around. A small golem, not bigger than a 2 year old child, comes running from the kitchen, his metal boots making thump noises on the wooden floor. Vulcan notices the body on the couch and looks at Gus, he couldn't see the golem's face, since he was wearing a helmet, with bull horns on each side, but his body language could be translated by 'what is going on?'

"I know, I'm just as confused as you" Gus replies to him. He knees next to the couch and places his ear on keith's chest to see if he was still alive. His heart was beating, but he was having trouble to breath.

Gus gets up and walks around the room. His hands gripping his long blue dreads, deadly worried. A ton of possibilities about what happened passing through his head. Maybe a spider bit him. He dealt with the spider infestation weeks ago but some could have survived, maybe hiding between the vines around the basement. He could have eaten one golden apple while he wasn't paying attention. It won't be the first time that a person inadvertently ate one, fooled by the shiny light the fruit produced. He was getting more nervous, the more time he wasted thinking about what happened more close this strange that Volt sended to him was from death.

He immediately stops, he knew what he should do.

"Vulcan! The phone" the small golem quicks grabs the telephone on the counter that separates the kitchen from the living room, he hands it to Gus that starts to digit a number. The only person who could solve this mess was the one who started.

A deep voice answered "You've reached Wizard Proxy, this is volt speaking, how can i help you?"

"Cut that shit out Volt" Gus cuts his rehearsed presentation "the guy you told to find me is dying on my couch. But I'm sure you probably knew that would happen."

"Good morning for you too Gus" Volt says on a calm tone "and yes, I was just helping him but now seeing clearly I regret this decision. Maybe you should let him die. I will help you later with the body."

Gus stay static, not believing what he just heard "I don't have time for jokes Volt!"

"I wish I was joking. Let him die, I will come to your place and help you hide the body.

"Volt I can't let him die! This is wrong! Besides, I was about to make some good business before he passed out"

"Trust me Gus, I wouldn't ask for you to do this if I wasn't serious. He will give you trouble in the future"

"Just… tell me what should I do to save him" Gus insists, he would deal with 'the trouble' later. Now he needs the money.

Volt sighs on the phone "I was expecting for you to ignore me but I still got hope. Take off his shirt, it will help him breath. Good luck." he hangs up.

"Wait, what? How that would he- hello?" Gus throws away the phone in frustration, vulcan grabs it before it hits the ground.

He sits on the couch on the right side of the one Keith was laid on, he couldn't just sit and watch the man die, even if what Volt said was true. No one deserves to die, no matter what terrible things they do or will do.

Maybe some people deserves it.

Maybe just one person.

'Take off his shirt, it will help him breath' volt's advice echoes on his head. He didn't knew how that would help, but he was to desperate so any advice is better than anything.

He gets up and goes to where keith is. He pulls him by his arms and struggles to make him sit, a hard task when the person is unconscious and keeps falling to the side like a ragdoll.

After a minute Gus manages to make him sit intact. With his head pending to the side, but still intact.

Taking off his jacket first weren't so hard. Since it was already opened, all Gus had to do was sliding it off from his arms. He places the purple jacket on the floor. 'Now the hard part' he thinks.

Gus grabs the shirt on his waist and lift it up, he stops it when the shirt is on Keith's neck and covering his face, he lifts his arms and slides his sleeves through each one. The bigger struggle was passing it through the neck, Gus sit on the man's lap and with both hands tries to pass the small collar on his costumer's big skull without suffocating him, but since he was not breathing anyway Gus saw no need to be gentle.

Finally, with a strong pull, he manages to take of the piece of cloth. He places it on the floor next to the jacket, without taking his eyes from the asleep man in front of him. Now looking closer, Keith sure was handsome. His long golden hair giving him an angelic appearance. His pale skin looked like made of silk. Gus was hypnotized by his face until something pulling his shirt from behind made him wake up from his trance. He turned around to see Vulcan with his arms crossed disapprovingly.

"what? I'm just seeing if I didn't hurt him by accident" he says. He turns back his attention to Keith and notices a golden chain around his neck, following the chain he saw a red medallion, with the picture of a dragon drafted on it, the medallion was hidden under his shirt, maybe to prevent to draw the attention of burglars. Gus get off his lap and lays him back on the couch, looking for any bite marks or any stain that could indicate he was poisoned.

His chest was clean, then he decides to check his back. "Give me a hand here Vulcan" the small gollen approaches the body and begins to turn him, then he immediately let go, dropping him back on the couch. The golem walks back.

Gus is confused "What's wrong? You saw something?" The golem nods furiously. Gus didn't remember a time where he saw him so scared. He feels a chill on his stomach. "Oh dear, it's so bad?" The golem nods once again, then he grabs one of his long sleeves and pulls him back, like if he was trying to keep Gus away from something. Something dangerous.

"Cut it out Vulcan! Let me see what's going on" he swings his arm and gets free from Vulcan's grip. He kneels and puts his hands under Keith's back and lifts it. It didn't took him so long to realize what made Vulcan so scared.

On his left shoulder was a inverted black pentagram, with the size of a closed fist. Gus knew that symbol. Everyone, actually. It's a popular one that can represents evil and it's usually linked to dark magic. Gus only knew two kind of people that would tattoo that thing on their skin: edgy teenagers, not Keith's case(well, he wasn't a teenager), and…

An idea clicked on his head, it was silly, but worth a try.

He turns to Vulcan "Turn the seal off".

Vulcan nods, denying. Gus insists "Trust me Vulcan, turn it off".

Vulcan stares at him for a few minutes. Then he join his hands, runes appears shining around his body. Gus could hear a low buzz, then nothing. Vulcan takes his hands aparts and nods at him. Gus answers by nodding back, he turns to keith. Moving his medallion of the way, he places his ear on his bare chest. He could hear his heart beating faster and his lungs slowly getting on track again, a smile of relief crossed Gus' face.

He leans back and takes a deep breath, his hypothesis was right, he saved his customer's life.

He turns to vulcan, smiling "It worked, he's fine"

'Not thanks to you, stupid hippie' a weak voice echoed on his head, too deep to be his own.

Gus looks around confused "uh..hello?". He spots Vulcan, that was also looking for the source of the voice.

'over here, idiot!' the voice slowly getting louder, like a roar. Gus notices the medallion was shining with a weak red light. He speaks at the object "It's you who are talking?"

'Yeah, it's me!' the medallion light got brighter 'you're lucky I can't get out of here or I would cut off those stupid play-doh hair of yours!'

Gus frowns at the object "Excuse me? Listen, I went through a lot of stuff today, I won't tolerate being offended by a fancy rock"

"You can't really blame him though" Keith says waking up, he grabs the medallion with one hand and rubs his forehead with the other, feeling like he were ran over by a truck "even more after you almost killed us."

"Hey! It's not my fault. How would I know you're a necromancer?"

Keith stops, he turns to Gus "How did you…" then he notices that his shirt was gone "Oh, I see. When I said I would pay anything for those mushrooms I was talking about money, but if you're looking for something else…"

Gus don't understand the commentary "uh, what do you m…" his face turns head when he realizes "I wasn't..! I- I was looking for…! I'm n-not that kind of…"

Keith gives a discreet smirk, he was amused by the embarrassed shopkeeper. He sits on the couch "Calm down, Gus, isn't? I was just joking. Anyway, now that I'm okay, let's get back to business, shall we?"

Gus recomposes himself, he gets up and looks at him with a serious gaze "Yeah, about that. I won't sell you anything until you say me for what you want the Golden Drops"

"Why so curious now?" Keith says while dressing himself

"What my customers do with my products it's not of my concern. But only because I know they won't do anything wrong or illegal. But you're a different story. Necromancers have a bad reputation on the magic world. So tell me why do you want the mushrooms, unless you want Vulcan to kick you out of here"

The small golem punches the palm of his own hand behind Gus.

Keith studies the man in front of him in silence.

'Just eat his mana and take the mushrooms. Let me take care of his toy!' Helios spoke on his mind

Keith grins 'No, maybe he could be useful' he answers mentally.

Keith gets up. He trembles a bit, still weak from whatever made him feel that way. "What if I show you?"

Gus raises one eyebrow.

"Come with me to my place, you can see what I'm going to do with them. Maybe you could get interested in it"

"No, thank you" Gus denies "I don't want to take part on whatever voodoo stuff you're into."

"What about a deal? I will show you what kind of 'voodoo' I'm doing. If you get interested, I will pay you with something more valuable than money. If not,I will just pay for them, leave the town and you will never see me again" he show him his hand "So? What do you say Mr. Grav?"

Gus looks at his hand. He feels Vulcan hugging his leg, a sign for him to not accept the offer.

'something more valuable than money' sounds tempting.

'He will give you trouble in the future.' Volt warning him once again on his mind.

He will only show him, it doesn't look so bad. It's not like Gus would agree in join in whatever crazy stuff he were into.

He reaches to shake his hand but stops in time "Something will happen when I shake your hand isn't? Some weird mark, like yours, will appear in my hand and I will sell my soul to you without knowing or something?"

That made Keith laughs, so hard that he had to keep himself from falling back on the couch. "No, no. I promise that won't happen" he calms himself "God that would be a very low blow. Even for me" he show his hand once again.

Gus sigh and shakes Keith's hand.


	3. Hiding Place

‘I don’t like him.’ the medallion twinkled with a faint red light under Keith’s shirt.

“And since when you ever liked anyone Helios?” Keith whispered. He was waiting for Gus to finish whatever he was doing. The blue haired man ordered him to wait outside so he could order Vulcan to turn on the seal again before following him to the place he indicated.

‘I just don’t know why you need him. We already went very far just you and me, why start recruiting now?’

“Oh, what’s it? Someone is jealous?” Keith smirks.

‘Don’t be stupid! As if I had a reason to be jealous of a hippie who likes to smell flowers all day!’. He could hear Helios growling, that made his smile grow wider. He loved to tease the dragon.

“I’m not recruiting anyone” Keith whispers while watching the traffic on the street “You heard what he said. He won’t sell me anything to me without knowing for what I want it, and I thought it was only fair for him to know. And I won’t mind a extra help. You know just as much as I do that we only got the soul by luck, it will won’t get easier from now on”

‘Never saw that lack of confidence on you before, Spectra’

“It’s not lack of confidence, It’s being realistic.”

‘It is? Or are you just amazed by the hippie’s pretty face? I think sometimes you forget I can read your thoughts.’

Keith’s cheeks get red “Quiet. Before I throw you on the first drain I see.”

“Who are you talking too?” asks Gus, surprising Keith. He closes the store’s door behind him.

“With Helios, he is acting stupidly today” he answers. He saw no reason to hide it since Gus already heard Helios’ voice and knew what Keith are.

“Oh, so your necklace have a name?” Gus says while pointing his wand into the door’s direction. A faint and quick ‘click’ could be heard, meaning that the door were locked.

“It’s a long story.” Keith notices the man was carrying, besides the wooden wand, a black backpack. “they’re inside there?” he gestures to the backpack with his head.

Gus nods affirmatively. “Can I have a look?” Keith asks. Gus take a step back, hugging the backpack close to his chest “Absolutely not. Only when we get there.”

Keith sighs “My, a bit paranoid, aren’t you?”

“My paranoid never failed me, I dare to say that I’m still alive and fine thanks to it and I pretend keeping myself like that.” He opens the backpack and puts his wand inside it, he closes it and puts it on his back “Anyway, where’s the place?”

Keith smiles kindly. “Just follow me.” 

 

\-----------------------------------//-------------------//-----------------------------

The twilight was slowly rising across the sky, waking up the town’s lights. the cold and gently wind shaking the red and yellow leaves from the trees. A perfect weather to have a nice walk on the park, or maybe stay at home and read a book while sipping a cup of coffee next to the window, while watching rushed cars passing under it. Gus would love to do one those things, but he was busy following a stranger through the sidewalks full of people going home after work and maybe do one of those things Gus wished he was doing right now.

He starts to wonder if 5.000 bucks were really worth it. Then he remembers that bills couldn't be paid with hugs and flowers.

“Tell me, what is this ‘seal’ and why it almost killed me?” Keith asks on a attempt to break the tension between them.

Gus stays silent, not knowing if it was wise to reveal it for him.

“What? Don’t want to tell me? Ok then. But take in mind that you’re the first person that I take to my workplace so I think you too could show some confidence in me.”

Gus couldn’t deny he had a point. “It’s Vulcan, the golem you saw at my home, that casts it. It’s a seal that creates a force field around the building to prevent any necrotic creature to enter and cause trouble.”

“What kind of creatures?” Asked Keith, now intrigued.

“Ghouls, doppelgangers, some deadly insects… some herbs that I sell attracts these creatures. It’s a easy and cheaper way to keep them away then hire an exterminator every month.”

“I see” 

“But I never saw the seal causing any discomfort or damage to any of my customers. And I have a great number of them. My hypothesis is that it only affected you because of your magic aurea” 

Keith hears all this nodding. He would need to think of a way to protect himself from that force field if there was any possibility of keeping doing business with Gus, since the seal could block Helios’ protecting spells.

“Okay, now it’s your turn. Why are you messing with dark magic?” Gus asks.

Keith wakes from his thoughts. “You will see when we get there.”

Gus shows annoyance “Are you going to keep playing the mysterious guy? Perhaps I should go back with the Golden Drops and leave you behind”

Suddenly, Keith stops. Gus stops too, confused. Keith turns to him with a serious and cold gaze. “Then go. Go back home with a pack of Golden Drops, that you will probably had to throw it away, since you can’t replant them, and without my money” the asperity on his voice making Gus look at him a bit frightened. Keith comes closer to him, his bright blue eyes staring deeply into his soul. “What’s going to be Gus? Will you go back home with your tails between your legs, poor and having to waste a expensive product or will you come with me and see what I can offer to you?” 

They stay silent for a while on the sidewalk, people that were passing ignoring them. Gus recovers himself from his frightened state and nods “But you better keep your world. That if I don’t agree with it, you’ll pay and leave”

Keith turns his serious and threatening look into a friendly smile, he touches Gus’ shoulder and squeeze it gently. “Just be a bit more patience buddy. We’re almost there” He puts the hand back inside his jacket’s pockets and starts walking again. Gus following him next.

As he followed him, Gus mentally cursed himself for letting himself getting into this situation. ‘Why must you be such a coward?’ a familiar face appeared on his mind, a face that haunted him and was always ready to mock him on situations like this.

He grips the straps with more strength. He would do anything to make the face disappear. Or maybe it’s owner. 

Gus was so immerse on his thoughts that it took him a while to realize they’re slowly moving away from the downtown and entering on an abandoned part of the town. He looked around, never being on that part of the city before, but already heard of it. A few decades ago there was a factory on that part of the town, and the houses around it were the employees’ homes, the majority coming from rural areas from the Beta region to try a better life on the big city. When the factory closed it doors, the neighborhood that formed around it died with it, since the factory were the primarily source of income, leaving behind a ghost town a few meters away from the downtown.

Gus’ curiosity turned into panic, he was being dragged by a stranger, a stranger necromancer to be more precisely, to an abandoned neighborhood without knowing why and for what. He stops, taking his backpack off and taking from inside it his wand before putting it back on his back. It’s possible that Keith were magically stronger than him but gus could use a trick or two to have enough time to escape.

He keeps following Keith with his wand on hands, ready to hit him with a magic strike to the first quick movement he make. The night slowly covering the abandoned streets on a long blank of darkness, getting almost impossible to see anything. The fear and expectation growing inside Gus. The houses silhouettes forming creepy images with the absence of light. He wield the wand to create a source of light, he’s about to pronounce the spell when a small beam of light appears, it was coming from Keith. The man’s palm was shining like a flashlight. 

“This way.” keith signalizes while turning a corner, Gus runs to follow him. When he turns he sees an enormous building at the end of the street. Without any light, it was just a huge and plain silhouette, watching from the distance, behind a fence involving all the terrain.

Keith keeps walking toward the terrain, guiding himself with the light coming from his palm. Gus coming behind him. 

“You live here?” Gus asks, Keith could notice the fear on his voice. “Of course not!” he chuckles “this is just my work place, the landlord wouldn't appreciate me doing my business on the apartment.”

“Right, now I’m sure that your business are pretty legal” Says Gus sarcastically.

Keith walks along the tall, chain linked fence and stops, illuminating with his hand a big hole made on it. “You first.” he gestures to Gus with his not shining hand.

“Pass, I want you in my field of vision.” he says with a serious gaze, doing the possible to hide his fear. Keith sighs “Just trying to be polite.”, he enters the terrain “Just stay close to me now”.

That didn’t calmed Gus a bit, he entered the terrain and followed Keith through the tall grass that formed around the building, years without a proper gardening. He was stepping carefully, taking care to not step on a brick, or glass, or a snake. While the man in front of him moved freely, guiding himself with his flashlight hand.

They walked through the grass for almost 5 minutes before stepping on a plain ground. Gus wielded his wand and whispered “Lux”, the silver details on it shining with a bright white light. He pointed to the ground, it was made of concrete, with cracks and weed coming from it. He kept following Keith and noticed a big rectangle stuck on the floor, he pointed to it, it was a board, with graffiti draw on it and missing a few metal letters. it was written.

 

Neo Che istry F ctory 

 

Keith kept walking with Gus behind him forward the building that appeared to grow larger with every step close. Gus looked around using his wand’s light, the place was in ruins, windows were broken, graffiti all around the walls and large trucks rusted by the time, with vines covering its wheels as if it was trying to drag them to the ground. The place was just a carcass of what it once was a medicine factory.

They finally reached the factory’s entrance, keith opened the large rusted door and they got inside. The inside was dark and smelled like rust. Gus couldn't really define how big it was but the light coming from his wand and keith’s hand gave a small idea of how enormous it was. Keith indicated a stair on the left, they go forward it and climb it, their steps echoing around the large place. 

The stair was larger than the one that led to Gus’ basement, it looked like it was endless. When they finally reached the top, Gus had to stop to catch his breath. Keith did the same, his hand on his knees. “I’m still not used to that stair.” He says panting, he gives Gus a weak smile “you okay?”

“Considering that you drag me to the other side of the town to a abandoned factory, yes, I am” Gus answers furiously “It better be good, or I will make sure to order vulcan to smash you the next time I see you”

‘I would love to see that little toy try. I will turn him into dust’ Helios says, Gus heard it this time. 

He raises an eyebrow “That’s cute. And how do you pretend to do this, you tacky piece of jewelry?” Gus hears a loud roar, it made him almost regret saying this.

‘When I get out off here, I will rip your face with my bare claws you flower eater mother-’

“Enough!” Keith interrupts “You both can keep this stupid fight for later” he gets up and turns to Gus “ready to keep moving?”

“There’s more?” he looks painfully at him. Keith smiles “Just this hallway and we are finally there”

Gus nods, he gets up and arranges the backpack on his back. They walk through a large, like everything on that factory, hallway. The floor was made of rusted metal, on his left, small windows along the walls with cracked and blurred glass that gave a complete view of the inside of the factory, not that they could see to much.

Gus and Keith were crossing the hallway, side to side, when they reached the middle of it, Gus heard steps coming from the bottom of it. Whatever that was making those noises was coming to their direction.

His first thought were rats, but the steps were too loud to be rats. Keith stops and puts a arm in front of him, making him stop too. He looks to Gus “Now, don’t scream. Just stay behind me and let me take care of it”

Gus gets pale, “w-what’s going on?”

“Trust me, just stay close to me and they won’t hurt you” Keith tries to calm him. ‘They?!’ Gus thinks in panic. He wields his wand and waits for the worst.

The steps stop, silence once again filling the hallway. Keith takes two steps close, Gus following him. 

“Hey there buddies.” Keith says to whatever was hiding on the darkness. He comes a bit closer and gestures to gus to come closer. When Gus took a step forward, the ‘things’ started growling. His hand grips his wand with more strength.

“No, no” Keith says “He’s a guest. Where are your manners?” He shows his free hand. With the faith light coming from his hand, Gus could see two silhouettes. Dogs silhouettes.

Gus calmed a bit. Dogs, normal creatures, still dangerous but not as dangerous as a cryptid. He points his wand to see the animals. He later needed to contain himself to not scream and run away from there.  
The dogs, a black one and a spotted one, had open wound around their body. Muscles and bones appearing, the black one with one eye missing. Both with eyes shining with a supernatural shade of blue. Both with eyes stuck on Gus, as if ready to jump on him and rip his throat. 

Gus stayed paralyzed while keith moved forward and patted the dogs heads. The creatures taking their attention from Gus for a minute to wag their tails to Keith and rubs themselves against him.

“I missed you too buddies” he smiles and giggles, as if talking with normal dogs. “I will play with you guys later, now daddy has business to do. Now, sit” The zombie dogs immediately sit. He turns to Gus “let’s keep moving” and passes through the dogs. Gus follows him, passing slowly through the animals, that followed him with their threatening, lifeless gaze. As if saying ‘you better behave or we will go after you’.

He walks a bit faster and stays on Keith’s side. Keith notices his terrified gaze “They weren’t going to hurt you, I swear. They are just a protection, to keep strangers aw..”

“Can you please shut up and let's end this already?” Gus voice trembles. He doesn’t even look at him. He was tired and scared. Only the money was keeping him from leaving the damned place.

Keith sighs, feeling bad. He never intend to scare him like this. “It’s going to be worthy in the end. I promise you” he says. Gus still don’t looks at him.

After a few minutes they reach the bottom of the hallway. They end in front of a door, Keith opens it and they get inside. The light coming from his hand turns off, resting only the light from Gus’ wand. Gus points it around, the room appeared that it once was a laboratory. Except from a few instruments, it had nothing anormal.

Gus looks at Keith confused “That’s it?”. Keith shakes his head “Turn off your wand and you will see it”.

Gus frowns “so you can order your zombie dogs to attack me?”. Keith rolls his eyes. He touches the tip of the wand, making it turns off.

“what the-” Gus jumps startled. He takes a step back from him and when he’s about to turn on the wand again he notices something had changed. He looks around, the room’s light were on. The room was as big as his flat and, once empty and abandoned, was clean, organized and full of books, notes and papers with symbols writing on it stucked on the walls. 

Keith walks while taking off his jacket and places it on a chair. He turns to him raises his arms “Welcome to my workplace, Gus”.

Gus looks around in awe “But… how did you..”

Keith smirks “It’s an illusion spell. Only Helios can turn it off” He pokes the medallion under his shirt. “But enough talking. You waited long enough for this” he points to the backpack “May I..?”

Gus is still distracted by the place “What? Oh. Right” He takes off the backpack and places it on a marble counter, taking care to not drop any notes placed there. He opens and takes from inside a white box, with a small hole on it’s lid. He puts the box on the table and fits the wand’s tip on the small hole.

“Aperi” Gus says, immediately the lid gets unlocked. He holds the box and opens the lid, showing it’s content to Keith. Keith looks inside it, there were four golden mushroom well preserved inside it. He grins with satisfaction. His search finally ended. 

Gus closes the lid “Now, as you promised. Why are you messing with dark magic?”. Keith, still smiling, walk toward a metallic cabinet, he opens the doors. Gus could see he was taking a book from inside it. “Have a seat mr. Grav” Keith requests without turning around.

Gus sits on a chair in front of a large metallic table. Keith comes and places a big book in front of him before sitting on the other side of the table. Gus analyzes the book, it was a big and thick volume. His cover was made of black leather, with nothing writing on it, nor a name or a number. 

Gus looks at keith, unimpressed “A book? That’s your secret?”.  
“Open it” Keith says, his arms crossed on the table, a sinister smirk on his face.

Gus opens the book, his yellow pages indicating that it was very old. The first page had one single phrase, enough to make Gus shut the book in hurry. 

“What did you saw Gus?” Keith asks “What was writing?”

Gus shallows, he whispers with his gaze still on the book “I-in libro de mortuis” He raise his gaze to Keith. “It can’t be. It’s a myth!”

Keith chuckles “As you can prove by yourself, my friend, the Necronomicon is very much real”.


	4. Temptation

The book of the dead, Necronomicon. A well known legend among witchcraft practitioners. The legend tells about a book written a long time ago by a mysterious and powerful necromancer. The book contained instructions of powerful and forbidden spells, summoning rituals and information about powerful beings. It’s content was so dangerous that witches from the high council decided to destroy it. But before they could get the book, the mysterious necromancer disappeared with it and for an millennium no one saw or heard of him or the book. Until that moment.

“Where did you find it?” Gus asks, amazed and worried at the same time. Amazed for seeing a myth being revealed true. And worried because, if the stories were true, finding it was a mistake.

“In a hidden cave, pretty far away from civilization” Keith answers “But finding it wasn’t the hard part” he opens the thick volume in front of them. The pages were filled with engravings of plants and monsters. The written were on a strange language. Keith points the the letters “This language isn’t any that we know, new or ancient. Whoever wrote the book created a own language, mixing ancient and neo vestal vocabulary.”

“And you managed to decipher the entire book?”

“Not all of it, I’m still working on that. But i already deciphered from the first to the fifth volume”

“That’s still a lot” Gus looks at the pages amazed “A normal person would take centuries to decipher it. Even a specialist in linguistics wouldn’t do such improvement. How you did that on a few months?” 

“Let’s say I had a extra help.” Keith grins.

“From who?”

“I will tell you later. Now look at this. “ Keith turns the book to him and quick turns a few pages and stops, he turns the book back to Gus. “Have you heard of this?”

Gus analyzes the page, there was a engraving of a hexagram, with a black circle on the center of it. Each one of the six tips had a small circle on top of it, a red one on the top, a brown one on the top right corner, a yellow one on the bottom right corner, a purple one on the bottom, a blue one on the left bottom corner and a green one on the left top corner.

“I saw that symbol before, but I don’t remember anymore. What’s it?”

“The six titans the represent the six elements that created the universe.” Keith answers. 

Gus nods, suddenly remembering it “Oh, of course. That old myth.”

Keith nods back affirmatively “There’s an entire chapter about this, and the chapter also says that those titans are the keys to unlock a great power.”

“And your plan is…?”

“Collect the soul of those six titans and consume that power.”

A moment of silence fill the room, later interrupted by Gus laugh. He laughs so much he almost falls from his chair. Keith waits patiently for him to be done.

Gus wipes a tear, still laughing “And here I thought you’re dangerous. You’re just a idiot who believe on old myths.”

“So you don’t believe me?” Keith asks “Even after you saw the Necronomicon with your own eyes.”

“Oh come on” Gus roll his eyes “Okay, the Necronomicon is real, but what makes you think the things written on it are true. The guy who wrote this probably was a crazy old me.”

Keith raises an eyebrow. “So you think it’s all a myth?”

“Absolutely.” 

Keith nods slowly, then he get ups and goes back to the cabinet and brings back to the table a wooden box, he places it on front of Gus “Then I guess this is a myth too.”

Gus looks confused at him, he opens the box. Snug on the red velvet inside the box was a small yellow orb, with the size of a golf ball. The orb was shining slightly. 

“Touch it.” Keith suggests “And tell me if it’s a lie.”. Gus hesitates a bit, the slides a finger on the orb, it was warm. Immediately he got struck by a wave of visions, all of them so vivid, like he was experiencing them. It were so strong he falls from his chair, trembling. He blackouts for a few minutes, when he wakes up he sees Keith crouched next to him, the last thing he remembers seeing on his vision was a big white tiger roaring.

Keith helps Gus to get up and sits again on the chair. “Are you okay?” he asks, Gus nods “W-what was that?”

“You just saw one of the titans, Her name is Tigrerra, she is the titan of light.”

Gus takes a time to process this information, so many myths revealed being true on one night. “How…?”.

Keith whistles “Wasn’t easy, me and Helios had a hard time fighting her. She didn’t gave up easily…”

‘But in the end we prevailed and got her soul’ Helios says on a proud tone.

Gus gets up of his chair, he walks around the room, his both hands caressing his long hair. He got this feeling that what Keith was doing was somehow wrong.

“There’s five left, the next one is the titan of the earth, Gorem.”Keith says “But, just like Tigrerra was, it’s not easy to find him. But it appears there’s a few spells that the book teaches that can be used to locate all of them.” he points to the white box on the counter “That’s why I need the mushrooms.”

Gus keeps in silence, processing everything. Keith gets up and goes forward him. He grab his shoulders from behind “That’s why I think you would be a great help, Gus. And, in exchange, I can help you improve your abilities. Imagine how powerful you can become.”

Gus always imagined that: power, that’s why he joined the Gaia cult on the first place. That’s why he studied the magic properties of plants and how can he used it for years. Was helping Keith really worth it? 

He free himself from his grip and turns to Keith “The mushrooms are yours, but I won’t be part of your suicidal plan.”

Keith looks at him for a moment, then sighs “It was worth a try. And a deal is a deal, tomorrow I will pack my things and leave.”

Gus nods “And if the magic police catches you, you didn’t knew me. Or you might find some hallucinogen on your jail food.”

Keith smirks “I won’t, I promise.”

 

\---------------------------------------//-------------------------------------------------  
Keith finishes filling the check and gives it to Gus, he gives it a look before put it on his pocket. Keith gets up and show his hand to him “It was a pleasure doing business with you.” Gus grabs it and shakes it “I’m afraid I can’t say the same about you.”. Keith chuckles, he pats his shoulder “I will accompany you. Buck and Princess have orders to attack anything that moves on that building besides me.”

Gus nods understanding, he was impressed that he had the trouble to give the undead animals a name.

Gus fetchs the backpack and puts it on his back, Keith waits for him on the door. When he’s done, he leaves the place with Keith in front of him. The darkness filling the room once again and the spell covering the objects in there. Keith creates a light source with his hand again to walk through the place. They reach the middle of the hallway where Buck and Princess were on guard, Keith passes through them with Gus hiding from them behind him. The dogs look at them one last time before hiding on the shadows again. They go through the same path they did to come to Keith’s workplace. When they reached the outside of the factory, Gus walks a bit faster. He wanted to go back home as quickly as possible, take a shower and sleep and pretend all of it was just a confused bad dream. And he will wake up on the next morning and his routine will be back to normal, he will sweep the store, water his plants, charge his wand on the sun… He suddenly stops, he didn’t remembered packing his wand with him.

He crouches and puts his backpack on the floor, he opens it, desperately looking for his wand. 

“looking for something?” Keith asks, curiously.

“My wand. I think I left it there!” He gets up nervously.

Keith scratches his chin “Isn’t that one made of oak wood?”

“Yes!.”  
“Like that one?” Keith takes it from inside his jacket. 

Gus eyes get wide. He probably got it when he blacked out.

“It’s was very neglecting of your part, Gus” he analyzes the object “Leaving the only source of your powers on a counter. Someone could steal it.”

“Give it back!” Gus starts walking toward him with a frown and his fists closed. With powers or not he still could punch the stupid blonde’s face.

Keith grins and wields the wand, he point at Gus and says “Crescere”.

Vines appears from the floor and hold Gus legs, holding him on the place. He struggles to be free, but the vines kept growing and holding his legs. 

“Let me go!” he shouts. Keith calmly approaches him “Calm down, I want you to know what you’ll be losing by rejecting my offer.”

“Fuck you! I don’t want to hear anything from you!” his anger was mixed with fear.

“It’s fine, I’d rather show you.” he points the wand to him and murmurs “O numen potens in potentia creaturae ad puerum tuum da imperium in naturam.” the wand starts to shine a bright green light. The vines begins to grow faster, now covering all of Gus’ body.

He starts to panic, not with the eminent death by suffocation, but because he knew very well what Keith was trying to do. “No! Stop! You can’t do th-” the vines blocks his pleading screams, making a cocoon around him. The darkness covering him. 

\----------------------------------------//--------------------------------------------

‘It's been three minutes already, you sure it worked’ Helios asks.

“Of course I am, the book said it takes a while” Keith answers.

‘I think you killed him’

“I did not killed him.”

Another minute passed, the big green cocoon did not move. Only the crickets could be heard on the place.

‘Yep, you killed him.’

“If you don’t shut up Helios, I swear I wi-” then he hears a loud sound, the cocoon was moving. The vines slowly returning to the ground.

Keith approaches it and holds Gus before he falls into the ground, putting his arm around his shoulder. His eyes were shut. Keith smiles, it worked.

Gus slowly opens his eyes, he looks around confused. He notices Keith holding him and immediately steps back away from him. Gus felt something was different, he was feeling like he drank a gallon of coffee. He felt filled with energy, filled with power.

Gus looks at his hands, they were trembling, he turns to Keith “What have you done?”.

Keith smirks and fetches his phone on his pocket, he turns on the frontal camera and the flash “Have a look by yourself.”

Gus grabs the phone and looks at the screen, he loses his breath for a moment. His eyes had a brighter shade of green and his ears were slightly pointy. 

He lets the phone hit the ground and grabs Keith by his jacket “You have any idea of what you just did?”.

“Oh I do.” Keith answers with a grin “It feels good isn’t? The power, the magic flowing through your veins”

Gus throws him on the ground with a groan, he steps away from him while grabing his head, murmuring “You shouldn’t have done that, I wasn’t ready yet…”

Keith get ups and grabs a big stone next to him, he shouts to Gus and throws the stone on his direction. Gus notices the object going to his direction and closes his eyes and protects himself with his arm, wanting for the painful impact that never came.

When he opens his eyes he sees that a wall of vines , coming from the ground, protected him from the stone. Keith chuckles “I think you’re ready.”

Gus moved his hand to the left, the wall leaned to the left, he moved his hand to the right, the wall moved to the same direction. He moved his hand down and the vines came back down the ground.

Gus approaches Keith and hold his collar “Give me a good reason to not kill you right now!”

“Because no one from the Gaia cult will offer to teach you how to use your new powers” Keith answers calmly.

“Of course not!” Gus shouts in anger “I wasn’t ready yet to receive those powers!”

“Who told you that? Some stupid old people? Even if you waited for a thousand years there wasn’t any confirmation that you would receive Gaia’s powers, you know that. You need to be chosen, or better saying, they had to see if you’re useful for them.”

Gus stays silent, he knew he was right.

Keith slaps Gus’ hand to free himself from his grip “Aren’t you tired of being restricted? Of not being able to use the entirely of your abilities? That's why I want that power, Gus. To proof to those snobbish from the high council how much potential a vestal can hold.”

“But… there are rules…” 

“Rules created for the benefit of powerful people so they can control weak minded people and induce fear on them so they won't step out of line.” Keith hold his shoulders “Help me Gus, and I will help you acquire power that you never dreamed of.”

They stare at each other, Keith could see how reluctantly he was on accept his offer. He let go of him and takes the wand from inside his jacket. “But if course, I can't force you to accept my offer” he offers to Gus the wand back, he grabs it and holds it with both hands, his gaze focused on it. “You know the words, renegade your powers and go back to your normal, powerless life as a flower seller…”

'Powerless..’ the voice mocks Gus again.

“...Selling herbs to ‘real’ witches…”

'You’re a failure.’

Thorns starts to grow slowly around them.

“... Watching them making progress and evolving using your products while you hold yourself into a lame stick and a false hope.”

'It’s hopeless, you'd be better dead.’

The thorns now were growing faster, making a small wall around him, Keith grins, he hit the right place.

“...or you could join me and grab your real destiny for your own, and the powers you always deserved.”

Gus griped the wand with more strength, to the point his hand knots were white. The silver details were shining green, then it got brighter and brighter, so much Keith had to cover his eyes. Then, a loud crack, and a small shock wave followed it.

When Keith uncovers his eyes he looks around, the thorns now were forming a 2 feet tall semi-circle, with Gus on the center, holding the wand that was broken in the middle. The silver details slowly disappearing. Now it was only a normal stick.

Gus was looking at the broken wand on his hand. His eyes shining with intensity. “So I guess you made your decision.” Keith says. Gus answers him by nodding, he let the pieces fall on the ground. 

Keith approaches him and touches his shoulder “It wasn't a easy decision, I know, but I promise you will be rewarded by this.”

Gus takes a deep sigh “Vulcan won't be happy about this “ he says with a weak smile.

Keith chuckles, he pat his shoulders “let's go, it's late and you need to rest. Tomorrow we can start your training.”

Gus nods and follows him through the terrain, the cold air caressing his air. He could feel the energy inside him, a feeling he longed for a long time. A smile crossed his face. He felt that Vulcan won't be the only one surprised by his new tricks.

Keith notices his smile, deep down feeling that he choose the right person.

\---------------------//---------------------------

The street was silent, signaling that it was already too late for any person be wake at the moment, except for two strangers walking together on the sidewalk, strangers who divided the same destiny and goals. And a third figure, watching them in the shadows. The figure was wearing a coat to protect his large body from the cold. The figure made a disappointed sigh. Disappointed with himself for leading Keith to that store, and disappointed with Gus. He made a mental note: never trust the future of vestal kind on the hands of a man with daddy issues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finally done! Special thanks to Lagging and Val for helping me and giving me ideas for this au. Gonna work on more fics about this universe soon.


	5. (Prologue) A Stranger In The Pub

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A prologue about how Keith discovered the mysterious flower shop. Special thanks for LaggingUniverse for making the grammar review and together with SpectrasLilBitch helping me create this universe.

Friday nights on *Yuophis was when the city burned brighter and got noisier. As if the town was asleep the entire week and just now woke up, lively and happy, just to sleep once again on sunday and repeat the same cycle come next Friday. 

The Pink Spider was a popular hangout. Every friday the pub was filled with young students, couples and people needing some drinks to forget the stress from college and work. That night wasn't different, the place was full, waiters moving in hurry to attend the tables.

And in the middle of that lively environment was an alone figure. A young man, seated next a window, lost in thoughts while looking at his half empty glass.

Moving to city to city in search of the ingredients for the spell left Keith exhausted. There was only one left, the Golden Drops. He left the hard ones to find for last but he already wasted a entire month looking for them. Keith reached for the glass and brought it to his lips and with one big gulp finished it, drowning his frustrations in the wine. 

 _"Careful there. We won't accomplish nothing with you drunk"_  the medallion on his chest twinkled faintly.

Keith places the glass back on the table "Quiet, I deserve this." He wasn't in the mood to be lectured by Helios.

_"Hey! No need for that, I may not have a body but I'm tired as well"_

"Then take a break and go to sleep" he says sharply, not caring if anyone would hear him.

The dragon gave one last snort and left his mind. Keith sighed and rested his face in his hands. The last fight drained a lot out of both of them, he barely managed to get out alive. He started to think that maybe he should take that night to rest. He could drink and later go back home and sleep. Then spend the next day lazing about on his bed for good measure.

"Hard day, huh?" A voice brought Keith back from his thoughts. He rose his head and looked for the source of the voice. It had come from the table behind him, most precisely, the figure sitting behind him.

"Hard month." He answered, not bothering to turn his head.

The figure chuckled, "I could imagine. Making all those trips must be tiring."

That sentence made Keith turn his head slightly, he decides to play along "Sure it is."

"What brings you to our humble city, friend?" The stranger asked in a friendly tone.

Now Keith was curious. "What makes you think I'm a foreigner?"

"It was just a guess, thanks for confirm it. This town is witch friendly so you don't need to worry about people wanting to burn you in a stake or something dramatic like that." The stranger paused and sipped his beer. "But if you looking for haunted places to contact ghosts I'd suggest you the abandoned neighborhood around the old factory."

Keith realized this might have been unwise. "Who sent you?” He demanded in a low voice, clutching Helios’s medallion.  “The High Council? My father?"

The stranger turned to him, Keith turned to face him as well. The stranger was a tall and muscular man, a smirk crossing his face "No one important. Just someone who has the curse to know too much."

Keith wasn't impressed. "Should that mean anything?"

The stranger got up and sat at the chair in front of Keith, leaning forwards and crossing his arms on the table. "That means that I know why you came here, Keith. And maybe I could help you."

Keith slumped in his chair to face him. "Oh, I see. You're a fortune teller."

The stranger nodded. "Not to be arrogant, but I'm the best one in town."

Keith smirked. "Then please, why don't you amuse me by telling me my future. I'm dying to know when I will find my love. Or in what numbers I should bet, I'm needing some money anyway."

The stranger wasn't bothered by his mocking, clearly used to this. "If it's that what you want me to tell you, I will do gladly. But I don't think it's that what you're looking now. No, you're looking for gold. Or better saying, golden drops, right?"

The smirk on his face disappeared. This guy knew too much.

"Lucky for you, you won't need to keep looking. You came to the right town. I will tell you where to find it, for the right price of course"

Keith wasn't convinced, he met some fortune tellers before. The majority were charlatans taking advantage of hopeless people. And he hated to admit, but he was feeling a bit hopeless in the moment.

Then a thought crossed his mind. He was a big guy, the bigger the body, more mana it had. Keith suppressed a grin.

"Since you know who I am, for sure you know what will happen if you trick me right?"

The stranger nodded "After breaking the stuff on your home in frustration, you will go after me, absorb my mana and leave my lifeless body behind. Then you will leave the town and in approximately a month and a half the High Council will arrest you for the illegal use of dark magic. Summing up, you and I have nothing to lose anyway."

Keith stared at him in silence, pondering his choices. After a long minute he sighed and straightened up in his seat. "Alright. I accept your help. Where I can find it?"

The stranger took a napkin from the table and a pen from inside his coat. He wrote something on the front and on the back, then he slid it to Keith. 

Keith looked the paper. 'The Enchanted Forest', and below was written a address. He turned the paper, there was a few numbers written on it.

"Those are the number of the lottery for this week." The stranger explained. "The store will open on monday."

Keith put the paper on his pocket "And how about when I will find my love?"

The stranger smirked "That's up to you."

Keith was already tired of all that mystery so he didn't bothered asking for a explanation. He took his wallet and placed on the table 250 bucks "50 for the waitress and 200 for you." He gets up to leave, then turns to him "If you fool me, I hope you're ready to spend your life as a soulless zombie". Keith walks towards the door and disappears in the night.

"You're welcome!" The stranger shouted just as Keith slammed the door behind him. Volt looked at the money. He knew he would regret deeply helping that necromancer later. But for tonight, he will have another beer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Yuophis is the name of the city where Keith found the flower shop. I didn't posted before cause I was too lazy to find a name for it OTL


End file.
